Ted Michael Morgan

During 1967-68, I was briefly a student at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, Indiana. The seminary is a Disciples of Christ school with students from a cross section of denominations. I found it a good school—really beyond my keen at the time. I was not much of a student. I had attended undergraduate school with the aim of becoming a military chaplain. I took my undergraduate major in religion. My opposition to the American war in Vietnam changed my focus for a career. The day that I decided not to apply for the Army program for chaplains, I withdrew from seminary. At the time I was in school, the seminary was beginning to explore alternative forms of ministry to pastor ministry. We were not clear about what this meant. At least I was not clear. The seminary seemed not to have developed strategies to design internships for such ministry. I fear that I was not help to them in doing just that. Some years later, I did discover a career that lasted a quarter century that let me consider myself a minister without a religious portfolio. However, the struggle to find that career was long. Someone once blackballed me from a good job because I “had left ministry.” She felt that I had wasted the resources of my denomination. No one else considered my career as a ministry. I considered it as such. This is a 22 year old photo of me. I no longer allow anyone to photograph me! I just turned down an offer to work selling investment products with a godo company. I felt overwhelmed by it--at my age. I liked the career itself. You can do great good in your field. You can do great good in your line of work. I just turned down an offer to work in the field. At my age, I do not want to put in the hours or face the quotas, but I liked the offer.

The Access Bible is an excellent beginning study Bible. You made an excellent choice.

The Disciples of Christ defines my immediate church background, though the independent Christian Churches shaped my childhood. At 15-years-old, my family became involved in the denomination of my father’s youth—the Disciples of Christ. As an adult, I have taken part in the congregational life of Presbyterian, United Church of Christ, and Disciples congregations. Catholicism intrigued me for a long time. I took my major in religion at university. I was not much of a student. I briefly attended Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, Indiana. I will include a longer description later. I have written too many of them to replicate the effort tonight. I envy those who have the linguistic and intellectual skills to do serious theological work and biblical study. Of course, not having those skills has saved me an immense amount of work.

Fundamentalist Christianity never defined my Christian life. Evangelicalism in the classical sense of the label has. However, deep within me, a naturalistic sense of religion has always seemed at least latent. However, fundamentalism shaped the culture and society within which I live. Learning about it defines an important aspect of my spiritual formation. My distress is in not finding where I live a community of people with whom I can share my beliefs—though that has happened from time to time. The sense of isolation that many of experience causes great pain. Christian experience is a shared experience. In many situations, we are outside the community.